We love the summer, and since we're mostly redheads around these parts, we tend to spend a lot of it lying in the shade reading books. We've run the Summer Reading List Challenge alongside our Summer Reading Box for a few years now, but we've never shared our own ultimate reading list with you. These books are perfect for long summer days, and they'll take you on adventures of all sorts! We've tried to sum up each book in three phrases, because it's quite a long list, and then the title link will take you either to the publishers' website (if you can purchase directly from them) or to Bookshop.org so you can find out more! If you'd like to buy any of these books and support us too (especially the ones you can't buy directly), you can shop through our Ultimate Summer Reading List in our Bookshop.org shop.
Kids/YA
Flora and Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo - superhero squirrel + cynical young girl = epic adventure
The Explorer by Katherine Rundell - a plane crash in the Amazon leads to an exciting adventure for a group of children.
Dragon's Green by Scarlett Thomas - books are literally magic. Also dragons, and copious cake.
The Moomin Series by Tove Jansson - the world is for exploring, and anything bad can be solved with something to eat.
A Kind of Spark by Elle McNicholl - young girl campaigns to set the past to rights. Also witches.
Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins - Paris + awkward wannabe film director + confused yet adorable guy = love? Super cute.
Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins - teen fashion designer dates older guy, but then the boy next door comes back...
Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins - including characters from Anna and the French Kiss, another gorgeous love story full of ups and downs & creative teens!
Amy and Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson - Boy + girl + road trip across America. What could go wrong?
Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome - four kids set up camp on an island, but rivals may already have claimed it...
Lumberjanes by Noelle Stevenson - graphic novel series about an awesome girls summer camp. Mythological happenings in the forest which must be overcome by our protagonists.
Fiction
Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan - 3 generations of a dysfunctional family gets together at the beach house...
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott - the ultimate coming of age story, good for all seasons!
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee - multi generational saga about a Korean family & how they're affected by history.
Rivals of the Republic by Annaleise Freisenbruch - historical fiction, badass female protagonist, mysterious underhanded political dealings in the Roman Empire.
The Lustre of Lost Things by Sophie Chen Keller - New York, a magical bakery and a boy who doesn't speak much on a quest to recover something that's been lost.
Star-Shot by Mary Ann Constantine - there is a strand of silence running through the city, people band together to find out what's causing it.
The Woman in the Shadows (republished as Mistress Cromwell) by Carol McGrath - fascinating historical fiction about Elizabeth Williams, businesswoman and later wife of Thomas Cromwell
The Magician's Lie by Greer McAllister - magic in the days of the great stage magic shows! Told in flashbacks as a police officer interrogates a young woman after a terrible event.
The Ant & Bea Series by Rachel Ward - unlikely crime stopping duo supermarket shelf stacker and check out girl solve various crimes in their neighbourhood. Very absorbing!
Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck - Steinbeck travels the US with his dog, Charley. In the fiction section, because some of it was apparently invented, but it's still great.
Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen - large family of girls (of varying silliness) who are slightly less well off than they once were and in search of husbands!
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - over the course of a summer, Scout discovers a lot of hard truths about the world around her. (this is possibly the most understated summary of a book EVER )
Dangerous Ages by Rose Macaulay - three generations of a family navigate societies changing expectations of women and how they live their lives.
Business as Usual by Jane Oliver and Ann Stafford - the fictional letters of a woman in the 1930s who moves to the city to get a job in a bookshop.
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe by Fannie Flagg - I honestly don't remember what happens in this, but I remember both the book and movie being excellent
The Fortnight in September by RC Sheriff - a lovely Persephone book about a family going to the sea for a fortnight in September!
Non-Fiction
Gears for Queers by Abigail Melton & Lilith Cooper - cycle tour of Europe with lots of accidental detours & wild camping.
The Outrun by Amy Liptrot - recovery through returning to your roots! Uninhabited islands, wild swimming and gorgeous writing.
The Diary of a Young Naturalist by Dara McAnulty - a diary about nature and life & our impact on the world. Beautifully written.
Untamed by Glennon Doyle - thoughts on being a woman. Very eloquently written.
Wild by Cheryl Strayed - woman decides to walk the Pacific Crest Trail to deal with personal trauma, with no practice & almost no preparation.
My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem - amazing stories about Gloria Steinem's life travelling across America as a child and later as a travelling organiser. She has some great stories to tell!
I've worked long and hard on this list, but I absolutely know I've missed out many amazing titles, so I'll be adding them as I remember them or am reminded. I love hearing other people's recommendations, so if you feel like making your own Summer Reading List to share with us please feel free to leave the link to wherever you've shared it in the comments.
The 'Armchair Traveller' Summer Reading Box containing three amazing indie books plus Ninja extras is available now in limited numbers.
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